Chinese authorities isolate and interrogate pro-Tibet activists before expelling them
By Rod Mickleburg
VANCOUVER, August 9: Pro-Tibet activists taken into custody for unfurling a giant banner on the Great Wall of China were interrogated for hours on end by Chinese security police who gave them little chance to sleep, according to protester Melanie Raoul of Vancouver.
They were also given no opportunity to contact family or the Canadian embassy throughout the 36 hours they were held, said Ms. Raoul, speaking by phone from Hong Kong shortly after the group’s release and deportation yesterday.
“We were not physically harmed, but psychologically, it was arduous and difficult. They [the police] have their own agenda. It was exhausting.”
Ms. Raoul, 25, and another Vancouver resident, 32-year-old Sam Price, had rappelled down the famed Great Wall on Tuesday to deploy the banner, which read “One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008.”
The Canadian pair, along with four accomplices, were soon taken into custody by a swarm of Chinese police over their unprecedented protest, organized by Students for a Free Tibet. Later in the day, a third Canadian, SFT executive director Lhadon Tethong, who had been in Beijing for several days, openly blogging and videotaping her activities there, was also picked up by Chinese authorities.
Ms. Tethong said she, too, was questioned intensely by police, before being deported at the same time as the Great Wall protesters.
“The plainclothes police were the ones who were really intimidating,” Ms. Tethong, 31, said in an interview. “They were very brusque and had this look on their face, whispering to one another and sneering at me because I have Tibetan heritage.”
Throughout the protesters’ detention, China repeatedly rebuffed attempts by Canadian officials in Beijing and Ottawa to confirm their whereabouts in order to provide consular assistance.
“We have been in contact with Chinese authorities since the beginning of this incident,” said Bernard Nguyen, spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“Again and again, we looked for confirmation of their detention, but, as far as I know, we did not receive it.”
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that he was very concerned about the Canadians’ arrests.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to help and, of course, pointing out to the Chinese government – as we’re entitled to do – that such expressions of opinion are a natural part of the human rights that Canadians expect in this country,” Mr. Harper told reporters during his visit to northern Canada.
Ms. Raoul, meanwhile, made no apology for her role in the audacious SFT stunt, timed to coincide with celebration of the year-long countdown to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. “As a Canadian who enjoys the rights we have, I feel we have a responsibility to step up and take action on behalf of others who don’t have those rights,” she said. “When I see something wrong, I was taught to do something about it. Well, Tibet has been brutally occupied by China for 50 years, and that’s wrong.”
The protest received worldwide publicity for the cause of Tibetan independence, with a video of the banner deployment posted on YouTube, extensive coverage in the mainstream media and Ms. Tethong’s provocative video blogging from the heart of Beijing, including Tiananmen Square.
Until she was arrested, Ms. Tethong was able to get her messages out despite constant surveillance by squads of Chinese security personnel who followed her everywhere.
“It was creepiest in the middle of the night, knowing they were always there, in the hotel lobby, in the corridor, by the elevators. … When they finally took me in, it was almost a relief,” said the Victoria native.
Ms. Tethong speculated that her followers mostly left her alone because China did not want to detract from its lavish pre-Olympic ceremonies and create controversy while the International Olympic Committee was in town.
“They know that people are watching. That’s the gamble they took when they applied for the Olympics. Now they’re getting what they deserve.”
Students for a Free Tibet has vowed further protests on Chinese soil as the Olympics near.
